US Soccer

Let's face it, soccer will probably never be on the same level in the US as football or basketball. The interest is growing, but it isn't in the same atmosphere as College Gameday, Superbowl, March Madness, NBA Finals, World Series, etc... I don't think there will ever be a concentration of athletic skill devoted to soccer in the youth given the current culture. Maybe immigration will shift that culture in another 50 years or so, but probably not anytime soon.

As to why we can't just find 100 or so people to be top class talent: Look at the NFL. How many kids play high school ball? A shit ton. How many make it to D1, not so many. And only a very fortunate and talented select few of those in college make it to the NFL. NFL, NBA and MLB have the benefit of a ginormous weeding-out system that has a base sample size many many times larger than soccer. For soccer to get to this level, there will have to be large scale interest in athletes higher up than Jr. rec leagues. It has to be big in middle and high schools (how many SEC region high schools are big in soccer?) It has to be big in college.

The only exception i see to this example is hockey (I don't think America is necessarily a hockey power house on the global scale are we?). It seems that a majority of hockey players are either not American or not raised in America. Soccer may be similar to this, I'm not sure I don't follow MLS too closely.

 

I understand all of this, and appreciate it, but I'm saying that I don't understand why a nation of 300 million people can't seem to find 100 athletes capable of playing soccer at the highest level - even if you took the top 30% of athletes away (for football, baseball, etc.).

The more I read (and I am admittedly far removed from even a novice understanding), it seems like Americans may have a more than sufficient talent pool, but are (far) trailing others insofar as both player development and experience in competing at the highest level of play.

From Card's earlier, and excellent site:

Link: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-isnt-the-u-s-mens-national-team-better-at-soccer/

 

We're not looking the right way, like it's been said. Our youth soccer is too much "get the ball to the fast kid." And then they go on to try to get college scholarships. Kids in "soccer countries" are getting development in pro academies as a fetus.

 

Getting the MLS academies going is a step in the right direction, but our population is still really spread out geographically, so identifying kids early and getting them in development systems still isn't easy

 

Rugby in the southern hemisphere (Aussi, NZ, and South Africa) is as big as the NFL here. Jonah Lomu could have played in the NFL during his peak years for the All Blacks.

 

I remember after the loss to Ghana in 2010, Klinnsman was one of ESPN's pundants and was saying we have it so backwards here it isn't funny. We remain amateurs way too long and have to pay to play, instead of getting paid to play.

And because of that, our first touch play is awful. We have none of the foot skills that the Europeans have.

 

As long as Alexi Lawless is considered to have a credible soccer opinion the US will languish.

 

Same reason Canada will never be a true hockey power as long as Don Cherry has a platform.

 

My biggest problem with soccer is, when the U.S. Player pulled his hamstring, they carted his ***** ass off the field on a stretcher. If a football play can walk or at least limp off with help with a broken leg, these pusses need to get the hell off the field.

It's terrible when I'd rather watch curling than soccer.

 

The difference is that the clock never stops running, so on non-catastrophic injuries, the priority is getting them off the field to get treatment on the sideline. They can't just stop for ten minutes and let the trainers examine him on the field like in American football.

 

So what's in that magic spray they use that one second a guy is clearly going to have to have his leg amputated, then after two squirts later, he can run non-stop for 30 mins?

 

Don Cherry is a deity.

Barry Melorse is why hockey is a failure in the majority of the US.

 

It is magic

 

For those who perceive US Soccer as so noncompetitive, the previous world champion Spain is eliminated already. Several quality teams are in danger, and the US is still punching in the Group of Death. The US may not be up to winning the whole damn thing, but we are definitely trending upwards rapidly given that we went 40 years without even qualifying to be at a world cup before 1990.

 

Magic Butt Spray™ ?

 

Hard to see the forest through the trees when we are barely beating Ghana a country with 25 million people living in poverty and it's celebrated like a major accomplishment.

 

Unlikely, since most Americans have no idea who Barry Melrose is.

 

I mean, they are a good team. They were ranked higher than us. They went further last cup than us (eliminated us). I don't know what to tell you. We are the third most populous country on Earth, but how many people grow and and continue playing soccer? As that changes, we will improve. We could become a dominant team within a generation. We might already be seeing the start of that, if we get out of the Group of Death.

 

If not for a hand ball, Ghana would have been a semifinalist in 2010.

 

He's the only person on ESPN with a hockey association. That's not true at all. Most people know him as "the hockey guy with a mullet" but they know of him nonetheless.